Jetlag and our aquatic creatures ??

[New Reefer]

Hi All,

I've noticed on more than one occasion that newly introduced fish and invertebrates seem to suffer from "jetlag" during acclimation. As an example, I've recently purchased a Copper Banded Butterfly, and noticed that it was "normally" active during the late evening, but was prone to hide (sleep!!) during the day. I believe this fish was imported from Singapore to South Africa (where I live) - a time difference of approximately 8 hours... I also noticed this on different occasions with newly introduced corals opening and closing at "odd" times.

Having given this some thought, it seems obvious that the animals were still reacting to their "natural" time zone, and that their "internal clocks" need time to adjust to the photo-period of their new home, just like humans need time to adjust to a new time zone after a long flight.

If my hypothesis is true, we should probably be (slowly) acclimating our animals to their new photo-period (day/night cycle), and in not doing so we are probably adding unnecessary stress to our creatures...

Does anyone have any information, comments or opinions on this

Hennie.

 

[aquadog]

Probably very true. I usually introduce new arrivals at the beginning of the night cycle (lights off/room lights on) to decrease this as an issue. Unfortunately, for most, this is not the worst of what they will be exposed to in their new homes.

 

[New Reefer]

True, but it is one of the easiest of stressors to mitigate IF you know where the animals originated - just adjust the q-tank's photo period accordingly, and slowly adjust to your own daylight hours over a few weeks...

Hennie

 

[Tu Ku]

Sounds like a load of crap to me, I have tank-raised fish that do the same things you've recorded, 2nd and 3rd generation corals which I've grown and all of them, the fish and the corals do odd things that make me think they have some weird "internal clock". I totally do not mean to flame you or tell you that you're wrong, it just sounds like you're focusing on some far-fetched issues. I would pay more attention to your supplier, and the method with which they are shipped, and your own acclimation techniques. Fish are sealed in a bag and put in the dark for the whole time that they travel anywhere, so they couldn't really think of it as waking up in a new time zone and not having enough rest, or too much rest. Just my 2 cents.

 

[DiViNeLeFT]

i think there is something to this... since there is no light cycle when they are in the dark bag they are still used to their natural light cycle i would think. i know that a changing light cycle affects me. every time we ajust the clocks for daylight savings time im always really tired or sick for about a week after and that is just for a 1 hour change.

 

[New Reefer]

Sounds like a load of crap to me...I totally do not mean to flame you

It certainly does not sound very polite...

Fish are sealed in a bag and put in the dark for the whole time that they travel anywhere, so they couldn't really think of it as waking up in a new time zone and not having enough rest, or too much rest

It would appear that you do not understand exactly what I am saying - this is not a short-term "one night sleep and you're rested" issue. Changing one's time zone to that of half-way around the Globe causes quite long-term effects in humans, and I'm sure, in our corals and other animals. Jet lag is not cured by only one night's good sleep. In fact, one of the problems with jet lag is that one usually cannot sleep well during the night, as one's body still thinks that it is daytime. Conversely, one is often tired and sleepy during the day (at one's new location...) because your "biological clock" still thinks that it is night time... Think about it, if the spawning of corals (and certain fish ???) is triggered by the intensity of moonlight (full-moon or new-moon), surely they will also be affected by a change in their natural daylight time?

Again, I'm not talking of one night - I've noticed that many corals take a week or two before they've "acclimated" properly to their new home, and are opening up as they should. Now, this could obviously be caused by any combination of stressors, such as a difference in light intensity, salinity, temperature, and water pollutants, to name just a few things which they must become acclimatized to... I'm merely suggesting that we should ALSO consider the possibility that our animals might need to be acclimatized to a different daylight time, and that this could take a few weeks, as it does in humans.

Hennie

 

[gobygoby]

IMO, i doubt the fish are undergoing jet-lag.....probably more along the lines of new territory....they dont want to venture out in the day and get eaten by something. as most fish sleep during the night...so the new fish are more apt to not get picked on..plus fish cant see that well at night. so they run less of a rsik of being seen.

as for corals. its a matter of adjusting to the tank parameters....

 

[Putawaywet]

Let's stop for a minute and look at this from a similar but slightly different angle.

The ocean has the propensity to be an incredibly harsh environment. There are literally hundreds of thousands, if not millions of organisims that reproduce in massive abundance in the hopes that a mere handful of their offspring might actually survive and thrive. And out of all of these offspring floating around, searching for just that right spot that will be condusive to their survival, trying to avoid becoming food for someone higher up the food chain a very small majority actually succeed because with a whole lot of luck they were able to find that one perfect spot.

Then we come along and remove them from those favorable conditions, pass them thru any number of temporary holding facilities, airline flights, temperature and lighting extremes, only to wind up in our tanks in conditions that, while more than likely acceptable, probably aren't anywhere near what they have spent their life adapting to.

Given all that wouldn't you.....

















Be having an off day?

Brett

 

[BeanAnimal]

Light cycle,
Tide motion
Water depth
Gravitational pull
seasonal temperature swings
water chemistry

and a dozen other things are suddenly different.... so TU KU if you think the idea is far fetched or "full of crap" then you really need to show why. Otherwise your rude opinion is useless here. BTW did you ever stop to think that the tank raised fish and corals have the same genetic makup that their sires had? Did you ever stop to think that a lot more than "jet lag" could be at play? You mention corals. Did you know that they spawn on a very set cycle where very specific paramaters must fall into place? This is certainly genetic. Salmon must not have any type of internal clock either. They just by chance swim upstream thousands of miles to spawn because they don't know any better. Plunge those salmon into a river on the other side of the world and see what happens. Somebody here is full of crap, but it is not the guy who asked the question.

 

[JaMan]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7219795#post7219795 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by gobygoby
IMO, i doubt the fish are undergoing jet-lag.....probably more along the lines of new territory....they dont want to venture out in the day and get eaten by something. as most fish sleep during the night...so the new fish are more apt to not get picked on..plus fish cant see that well at night. so they run less of a rsik of being seen.

as for corals. its a matter of adjusting to the tank parameters....

I tend to agree with this statement since Jet lag is more than just "time change". Most ppl suffer Jet Lag because of dehydration because the air recirculated thru planes is very dry.